House of Commons Hansard Debates for 25 Feb 1993

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Written Answers to Questions

Thursday 25 February 1993

EDUCATION

Further Education Funding Council

Mr. Byers : To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he will make appointments to the regional committees of the Further Education Funding Council for England ; and when the committees will begin operating.

Mr. Boswell : My right hon. Friend is currently considering appointments to the nine regional committees of the Further Education Funding Council. He hopes to announce the chairmen of the committees by 1 April, with a view to the full establishment of the committees as soon as possible.

Religious Education

Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment has been made of the proportion of religious education syllabuses which comply with the requirements of the Education Reform Act 1988.

Mr. Forth : The Department has made no such assessment.

Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish the study undertaken by the National Curriculum Council into religious education syllabuses.

Mr. Forth : I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend, the Member for Wyre Forest (Mr.Coombs) on 22 February 1993, Official Report, column 452.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Mr. Jock Kane

Mr. Allason : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to allow Mr. Jock Kane to publish his two books ; and what are the legal costs incurred by the Treasury Solicitor.

Mr. Hurd : I have no plans to apply for the lifting of the High Court injunctions restraining the publication of these books. The books contain information which would cause serious damage to national security and which Mr. Kane obtained in the course of his employment at GCHQ.

The Treasury Solicitor has estimated the legal costs for the 1987 High Court case as £5,870. Figures are not available for 1984, but would not exceed the 1987 figure. Action also taken in 1987 in the Scottish courts, in which legal costs of £839 were incurred.

Maastricht Treaty

Mr. Rowlands : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his statement of 15 February, Official Report, column 27,

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whether he will list those articles and protocols which are desirable but not necessary to incorporate into domestic law for the ratification and implementation of the Maastricht treaty.

Mr. Garel-Jones : I refer the hon. Member to the remarks of my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General in the Committee stage of the Maastricht Bill on 22 February, Official Report, columns 737-39, and to the written answer given by my right hon. and learned Friend to the right hon. Member for Llanelli (Mr. Davies) on the same date, Official Report, column 433.

Treaty of Union

Mr. Spearing : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by what means the obligations of tiles I, V, VI and VII of the treaty of union are acceded to by an applicant state of the European union, other than by article O of that treaty.

Mr. Garel-Jones : Article O sets out exhaustively the procedure for accession to the treaty on European union, including titles I, V, VI and VII.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Data Protection

Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to defer the market testing of ED5 in order to clarify the legal position with regard to article 8(4) of the draft EC data protection directive.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have no plans to do so.

Mr. Blair : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what outside legal advice he has received on the effect of article 8(4) of the draft EC data protection directive on the ability of private contractors to hold data concerning criminal convictions.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : Legal advice is available from the Home Office on this as on other aspects of the draft directive. I have not sought outside legal advice.

Fridges and Freezers

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many domestic fridges and freezers his Department intends to purchase in 1993 ;

(2) what are the latest available annual figures for his Department's purchase of domestic fridges and freezers.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : This information is not recorded centrally and in the case of the prison service could not be obtained without disproporationate cost. The available information, which may not be complete, for the non-prisons estate is that some 66 fridges/freezers will be purchased in 1993, compared with approximately 51 last year.

Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department will make it its policy to purchase domestic fridges and freezers that do not contain ozone-depleting substances.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : It is the Department's policy, subject to ensuring value for money, to reduce the use of

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ozone-depleting substances by replacing the equipment which contains them except in instances where usage is essential.

Hare Coursing

Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now introduce legislation to make hare coursing illegal.

Mr. Charles Wardle : The Government believe that participation in field sports is a matter for individual conscience. There are no plans for legislation to prohibit or restrict hare coursing.

Weddings

Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the law to provide that weddings may be performed in private chapels by ministers of churches other than the Church of England.

Mr. Charles Wardle : My right hon. and learned Friend has no plans to do so.

Obscenity and Pornography

Mrs. Ann Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to be able to report to the Prime Minister on the conclusions of the review which he has been asked to undertake of the law relating to obscenity and pornography.

Mr. Jack : As I explained in my reply to a question from my hon. Friend on 18 February, at column 299, my Department is considering in what ways improvements can be made in the enforcement of the existing legislation relating to obscenity. My right hon. and learned Friend is keeping the Prime Minister informed and will report to him in due course.

Hong Kong (Governor)

Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Governor of Hong Kong has submitted a further report on the discharge of his functions under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke : The Governor of Hong Kong submitted a second report to me on 30 December 1992. A copy has been placed in the Library.

Prison Education

Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what interim arrangements he is making in respect of each county for prison education between April and August ; and what assessment he has made of the effect on the contracts of existing college staff.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis) on 19 February, at column 370. The prison service is not the employer of education staff who work in prisons and the effect on their contracts of employment is a matter for the employers and their employees.

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Juvenile Offenders, Cleveland

138. Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to make an announcement about the provision of secure accommodation for juvenile offenders in Cleveland.

Mr. Yeo : I have been asked to reply.

In consultation with the directors of social services in the north-east of England, including Cleveland, we have identified the need for 11 extra secure beds in the region. I expect a firm decision about the location to be made shortly.

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

Southern Africa

Mr. Malone : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are his plans for future management of aid to the southern Africa region.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd : My right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development has announced the Government's intention to set up a new ODA development division in Pretoria, similar to those already operating successfully in other parts of the world. The British development division in Pretoria will help shape and run Britain's increasingly important bilateral aid programme in South Africa, and programmes in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. The new development division will be operational this summer. The development division in Lilongwe will continue to manage aid programmes in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Civil Servants

Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what percentage of British civil servants are promoted internally while on secondment to the EC.

Mr. Robert Jackson : This information is not held centrally. The comparatively short secondments to the EC, or to UKREP, provide valuable developmental experience which Departments are encouraged to take into account when making promotions. Whether promotion on secondment is possible will depend on several factors, including the opportunities for re- absorbing the officer in the new grade on his or her return.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Serious Fraud Office

Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions have been initiated by the Serious Fraud Office ; and how many of these have been successful.

The Attorney-General : Since the establishment of the Serious Fraud Office, it has instituted criminal proceedings against 328 defendants.

Of this total, 221 have been tried. Of these 139 were convicted of one or more offences without a successful appeal, 72 were acquitted of all offences and 10 were

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neither convicted nor acquitted. In the case of eight defendants proceedings were ordered to lie on the file, one defendant died and a nolle prosequi was entered in the remaining case.

Of the remaining defendants, 90 have had proceedings instituted against them but have not yet been tried, seven are abroad and warrants for their arrest have not yet been executed, and 10 did not proceed to trial.

ENVIRONMENT

Housing Investment

Dr. Lynne Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the housing investment programme borrowing allocation or basic credit approval for the last 14 years, expressed at constant prices ; and what is the basic credit approval announced for 1993-94 on the same price basis.

Mr. Baldry : I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 25 November 1992, Official Report, column 669, to the Member for Sheffield Attercliffe (Mr. Betts) for information on the housing investment programme--HIP-- allocations for the years 1979-80 to 1992-93. The total of the 1993-94 HIP allocation is £1,920 million--£1,869 million in 1992-93 prices.

Housing (Negative Equity)

Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the total value of negative equity in homes in (a) England and (b) the north-west standard region in April 1992 and at the present date, and of the number of properties involved.

Mr. Baldry : There is insufficient information to estimate the total value of negative equity in mortgaged homes. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 February to my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Sir T. Arnold), Official Report, column 522. The number of dwellings in the north-west region where the mortgage exceeded the value of the dewlling in the fourth quarter of 1992 was probably about 10,000.

Empty Properties

Ms. Coffey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many empty properties have been purchased under the arrangements announced in the autumn statement ; which housing associations have made the purchases and in what areas ; and at what total cost.

Mr. Baldry : The latest figures from the Housing Corporation show that by 19 February approvals for the purchase of 16,666 properties had been granted, with 5,755 purchases actually completed. The assocations making purchases in each of the Corporation's regions were :

London and Home Counties (NE)

Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association, Circle 33 HA, East London HA, Family HA, Guinness Housing Trust, London and Quadrant HT, Newlon HT, Shaftesbury HA, Southern Housing Group, Warden HA ; London and Home Counties (NW)

Acton HA, Airways Housing Society, Circle 33 HA, Ealing Family HA, Family HA, Network HA, Notting Hill HA, Paddington Churches HA, Peabody HT, Thames Valley HA,

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Warden HA ;

London and Home Counties (S)

Airways HS, Beaver HS, Bourne HS, Broomleigh HA, Family HA, English Churches Housing Group, Hexagon HA, Highweald HA, Hyde HA, James Butcher HA, Kelsey HA, London and Quadrant HT, Metropolitan HT, Moat HS, Orbit HA, Peabody HT, Southern HG, Swale HA, Thames Valley HA ; Merseyside

Co-operative Development Society (Liverpool), Liverpool HT, Merseyside Improved Houses, Maritime HA, Warrington HA ;

North East

Bradford and Northern HA, North HA, North British HA, Yorkshire Metropolitan HA ;

North West

Collingwood HA, Grosvenor HA, Irwell Valley HA, Family HA (Manchester), Manchester Methodist HA, Manchester and District HA, Muir Group HA, North HA, North British HA, Northern Counties HA, North Cheshire HA, South East Lancashire HA, St. Vincent Housing Co-operative, Two Castles HA, West Pennine HA ;

West

Devon and Cornwall HA, Haig Homes, James Butcher HA, Knightstone HA, Oxbode HA, Oxford Citizens' HA, Redland HA, Swaythling HS, Twynham HA, West Berkshire HA, Western Challenge HA, Winchester District HA, West Dorset HA, Westcountry HA ;

West Midlands

Birmingham Friendship HA, Bromford Carinthia HA, Focus HA, Mercian HA, Midland Area Improvement HA, Orbit HA, Servite Housing Initiatives, Shropshire Rural HA, South Shropshire HA ;

East Midlands

Circle 33 HA, De Moatfort HS, East Midlands HA, Guinness HT, Leicester HA, Longhurst HA, Loughborough and District HS(1969), North British HA, Sanctuary HA, Suffolk Heritage HA, Suffolk HS. The total costs incurred by 19 February were :


Source of funds           |Approvals      |Completions                    

                          |(£ million)    |(£ million)                    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Housing Association Grant |534.96         |186.46                         

Other public subsidy      |8.21           |3.10                           

Private finance           |298.31         |107.88                         

                          |---            |---                            

Total costs of schemes    |841.48         |297.44

Smoke Alarms

Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proposals he has to increase the use of smoke alarms for the deaf.

Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have been asked to reply.

The Home Office spends over £1 million a year on television advertising to promote the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms in occupied buildings in England and Wales. The television commercials are designed to be readily understood even without the benefit of the soundtrack. We are considering the possibility of providing subtitles on smoke alarm commercials for the 1993-94 advertising campaign.

The Home Office also produces a range of free leaflets on fire safety. These are issued mainly through fire brigades although they are made available to other

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organisations. One of the leaflets, "Fire safety advice for disabled people", provides information on smoke alarms for deaf people and include addresses from where these may be obtained.